Robert Lawrence Stine is a renowned American novelist best known for his horror fiction aimed at young readers. He created the Goosebumps series, which has sold over 400 million copies worldwide, making it the second-best-selling book series in history. The series has expanded into a multimedia franchise, including TV shows, video games, comics, and feature films, and earned Stine the nickname “the Stephen King of children’s literature.”

Stine also penned the Fear Street series, which has sold over 80 million copies and was adapted into a film trilogy. Beyond these, his other works include Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, Nightmare Hour, and The Nightmare Room. Under the pseudonym Jovial Bob Stine, he has written numerous humor books for children.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, to a Jewish family, Stine began writing at the age of nine after discovering a typewriter in his attic. He was influenced by Tales from the Crypt comics, which sparked his interest in horror. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 1965 with a BA in English, where he served as editor of the university’s humor magazine The Sundial. After college, Stine moved to New York City to pursue a writing career, which would eventually make him a household name in children’s and young adult fiction.